ETRAS where 6 worlds and anime collide
by Undine
Summary: A currently dead story. Read if you'd like.
1. 01 - Where various anime collide

PETRAS (Part I) "Something Awry"

Disclaimer: This story belongs to me, but most of these characters belong to countless companies that bought the copyright to those characters. Therefore I humbly thank the creators the characters I'm featuring here, and hopefully don't get sued 4 using them.

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"All I saw was you!" Asuka's tears flooded the sand.

"I...Asuka," Shinji grasped his chest, somehow preventing himself from crying again, "What?"

It wasn't enough he'd seen everyone turned to LCL beforehand. Even the possibility of her being the only other female, no human made him mad. But seeing her break down, it made him sick.

There was no answer, only a slight tremor as Asuka peered into the sky, filled with the image of some spiky-haired woman. 

"It's the truth, Tenchi," Washuu's nasal voice filled the echoing basement, "I swear! I, the greatest scientist in the universe, looked into one of my worlds and there they were!"

Tenchi looked at the monitor, displaying the conversation between Asuka and Shinji. They didn't look like the creatures Washuu would make, recalling a malfunctioned robot twin Washuu made for herself. They seemed like they came from someplace else.

Tenchi stared at the monitor in disbelief. They were interacting with each other, in some sort of talk about "Evangelions" and "piloting".

"And...you're going to examine them close-up?" he swallowed.

Washuu was the scientist who was born to study everything of everyone that came to her attention. A while back, Washuu tried taking a blood sample of him. Tenchi knew Washuu conducted experiments on those she studied, meaning there was a slim chance those "specimens" on the monitor would survive.

"Relax, no dissections, but this gives me an opportunity to study them!"

"No!" but it wasn't from Tenchi.

A green-haired woman stepped into the laboratory. What appeared to be a staff was firmly gripped by the woman, who looked neither frightened, nor clueless of Washuu. 

"Setsuna," Washuu held no confidence in her voice, "You really shouldn't intrude like this."

"Oh, but I should," Setsuna pointed her staff at Washuu, letting its glow increase each second.

An image formed. A blonde with what appeared to be "meatball-like hair" formed within Washuu's mind. She seemed to be pleading to some masked man in a Tuxedo suit, though what she was saying was still unclear to Washuu.

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"Mamoru." Serena whispered to the sky.

Only a few weeks ago, she remembered everything. She was once a SailorScout. Mamoru was once Tuxedo Mask, the love who constantly worked to save her from perilous situations, only he was brainwashed, working for the malevolent Queen Beryl. As she stared at the memories in her mind, Serena wished them to go away.

She was in another world, annexed for the sake of the guizhinshou, since she was Princess Serenity. She remembered the green-haired "guardian of time" that told of worse things to come. Serena still couldn't understand how her use of some "guizhinshou" would wipe out the other SailorScouts, and especially, her Mamoru. It was only from looking into the woman's despaired eyes that she knew she had to leave the world she was in, to prevent whatever tragedies ahead in time.

A cold wind brushed against her as she heard the crackling of numerous leaves, "Serena, aren't you coming in?"

Turning around, she only confirmed the voice she guessed would speak to her. Touji was the type who'd care the most at the crucial times, but he was never a Sailor Scout, so he had no idea how to help.

"Touji, it's cold," Serena continued quickly, "I mean, for you. Shouldn't you head inside?"

If he'd been hurt, he didn't let it show, "You must come inside. C'mon, love, Akane's worried about you."

Serena noted Akane for a brief moment. She was twice her age, only slightly younger than her own mom, but Akane still wore the youthful face that kept her content. She was a doting motherly figure, but she still wasn't a real mother.

Shaking the thought away, Serena let Touji lead her back to their home. She knew her life with the SailorScouts had to be forgotten again, if she was ever to go on in life.

"What's with Serena?" Ranma scarfed down the last of his chicken before continuing, "she seems kinda down today..."

"Just like last week, last month," Nabiki cut in, "Even Touji's baffled."

"You don't think her memory's returning," Ranma stated the obvious.

"Of course, she had another life in Setsuna's world," Kasumi lifted Ranma's empty dishes from the table, "Once she's remembered fully, it'll be hard for her to forget."

"Poor Serena, poor Touji," Akane looked out the window, "and he has no idea."

(Flashback to two years before)

"Please, take care of Serena," Setsuna looked down to the unconscious fourteen-year-old, "She left her world to save her friends. Please, let her reside here."

Akane and Ranma were the joint owners of the Tendo-Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. It'd been fifteen years since their marriage and ten years since they realized Ranma couldn't give Akane a child. As they looked in sympathy upon the weary young girl before them, they both realized their chance for a child, someone to raise as their own. 

Taking a hold of one of Akane's hands, Ranma nodded, "We'll do our best."

"Setsuna's weak smile managed to light up the room, "She will not remember for a time, not of her past, nor of being Princess Serenity, but once she does, I'll return."

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In Setsuna's world, it was only a few days after Serena was rendered unconscious by Setsuna and sent to the world where Ranma was. When Setsuna sent SailorMoon away from the world, Setsuna brought in an unconscious woman in Serena's place. Also suffering a form of forgetfulness, the woman who took Serena's place only remembered fragments of which she once was.

"I never wanted to be SailorMars2!" Jesse gripped her transformation pen, yelling "Mars Power!" turning back to Raye, "I hate this!"

Jesse was in her own version of the SailorMars suit, with the one difference of her bow, which had an odd cat pendant on top. It might've looked like a meowth, but in the usually perilous state, Jesse never took notice.

"Can't you keep your mouth shut? You think I ever wanted a copycat 'scout' to mess up our operations?" Mars glared back at Jesse.

"Mess up? What do you think you can do with that puny lighter attack? I swear, a Growlithe would've roasted any of your measly..."

Grabbing her by the back, SAilorJupiter lifted her a foot off the ground, in an irate state, "Just shutup and help us kill those youma."

With no reason formed in her mind to protest, considering Makoto's evident strength and bad mood, Jesse gasped "okay," and was gruffly set back to the ground.

Somehow, the youma watching those proceedings was absorbed into doing nothing. The two merely absorbed what was in front of them. Those were the sailor scouts that brought out the guizhinshou and the doom of the infamous Negaverse?

Minako's boot tapped the ground as she silently waited for the other scouts to settle. Just a few feet away were some killer, spiky-haired monster, and her purple-haired companion. Eyeing the cyan-haired youma, Minako wondered why she hadn't attacked already.

"They're worse than you and I, Lady Ryoko," Ayeka looked at the two SailorMars.

"Yep. So all these universes got affected," Ryoko sighed, eyeing the Scouts warily, "I don't think Setsuna told them of us." 

Ayeka said nothing, for the scouts finally assembled, chanting their slogans of "love and justice," as Washuu predicted. The scouts soon grew weary of waiting for Ayeka and Ryoko to respond.

"Mars Fire..." Raye and Jesse both chanted, "Ignite!"

As the flame around where Ryoko was positioned before dissipated, the scouts realized the youma was nowhere to be found.

Ayeka merely sighed as she waited for Ryoko to materialize. Even if she was in the area of the attack, Ayeka was unaffected.

"Whaaa?" SailorMars2 turned to SailorMercury; "It didn't even phase them!"

Mercury turned her visor on, then breathed; "They're not from the Negaverse."

"Then what are they?" Minako stared at the two "youma" grimly.

"Perhaps you should let us explain," Ayeka turned to SailorVenus, "Minako."

(Somewhere in Tokyo)

"I sense danger." Brock grinned as he gripped his rose, "Time to save the day," Brock turned left and right, repeating less dramatically, "I said, time to save the day!"

"Do I really have to wear this?" another male in a tuxedo appeared from a shadow with what looked like a yellow rodent on his shoulder.

"Pika, Pika," the rodent sighed as it adjusted it's mask. 

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Authors Note: First crossover fic, 2nd fanfic. It's kinda hard to think of an original idea and then write it out into some story. C&C to Undine2040@yahoo.com

Story Explanations: Got no idea of What's going on? (Me too.)

Characters- (So far)

Shinji- Ok, I honestly read the scripts of all the Evangelion eps & endmovie, but I didn't watch all them, nor the movie. Still, I know how Shinji was a 14-year old who usually cried and was down throughout the series. Still, he was the pilot of Eva 01 and at the end of evangelion, where everyone turned 2 LCL. After talking to Rei (a former Eva00 pilot/who was the one who turned all the other humans into some liquid called lcl), he landed on the shore of some island, only to see Asuka, the girl who always competed with him to be a better Eva pilot.

Asuka- Aggressive, she mostly picked on Shinji throughout the series, but when he strangled her after ending up on the island, she embraced him. From the script, she said something like "I feel sick". This story is somewhere after that point (hopefully I didn't spoil the end of evangelion 4 those who didn't see it.)

Washuu-Yep, the short, spiky, red-haired scientists with that slightly- annoying voice from TenchiMuyo. Since she's so smart, she created some artificial worlds in the show (episodes 11-13). In this, Tenchi is surprised she created real, live humans (or he just thinks she did). 

Tenchi- Before meeting Ryoko and others in the show, Tenchi lived a quiet, sorta dull life. Shy and dull at first, Tenchi ended up killing the infamous Kagato, so he should be given some credit.

Touji- He was a character on Evangelion, a pilot of Eva03, but he never wanted to pilot it. Kinder and more open than most of the other characters of Eva, he's ended up with Serena (a.k.a. SailorMoon) here.

SailorMoon (or Serena)- She's with Touji, but her memory and timeframe is sometime after Mamoru was brainwashed and turned to Queen Beryl's side. She was sent to the world of Ranma1/2, where she's been living for around 2 years, only, she just began remembering who she once was a few weeks ago.

Ranma and Akane- In Ranma 1/2, Ranma was the guy who fell into a spring, turning into a girl whenever splashed with cold water, and turned back to his masculine state. Ranma was set up with Akane to marry. In this story, Ranma and Akane are considerably older than in the show. Touji isn't their son, but the end of this series should cover everything.

Nabiki-the breadwinner in Akane's family in the series, she was the one brainstorming scheme to make money off of others.

Kasumi-The motherly-figure in Akane's famiily, she took the role of thehouse caretaker after their mother died.

Ryoko-spiky, cyan-haired, creation of Washuu's? Well, she pretty much rivaled with Ayeka in the series 4 Tenchi.

Ayeka-"Crown Princess of Jurai", she's related to Tenchi, but in the series she first thought he was human, and rivaled Ryoko 4 him.

Jesse - SailorMars2 in this? Before I'm flamed 4 this, umm, well, she's as grouchy in Pokemon as SailorMars is in Sailormoon. A Team Rocket Member in the show, she was a badguy, so why not make her a SailorScout for irony's sake?

SailorMars-Raye is grouchy, though she cares for those in her group, so what's to say?

SailorJupiter-Usually with a pleasant disposition, Makoto cares for her group, though when really angry, she's the one 2 inflict physical damage. "Supreme thunder" is formidable enough.

SailorMercury-The smart on in the group, her blue visor scans areas and creatures. She's mostly the extremely nice one.

SailorVenus- Minako was the ditsy one of the sailor scouts, like SailorMoon in the show, but she's nice. She probably would've been the leader in Moon's absence, since she was a sailor scout before the main SailorMoon series began.

Brock- Falling in love with almost every girl, Brock's the perfect character to take on the role of.... (Figure it out)

The other Masked figure-and the rodent (figure it out)

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Acknowledgements: This time, I'm thanking other fanfic writers. 

2 Chris Davies for his Mega-crossover Together Again. I didn't like the 2937 chapter, but 1996 got me into reading and eventually writing crossovers. Either find the stories at archives like the Tenchi fanfiction Archive, or at his homepage.

2 The Grass is Always Greener writers. The story gave me the idea of writing in info about the characters, so 2 keep track of who they are. Plus, I loved the switch of Tenchi and Ranma, find it at the Tenchi Fanfiction 

Archives www.tmffa.com

C&C 2 Undine2040@yahoo.com


	2. 02 - Evas and Moons are clouded in Nerim...

PETRAS - (Prologue part 2) "Memories" (revised)

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Disclaimer: I don't own most of the characters here, nor am I able to pay for them. They're mostly owned by the companies they came from, but the story is mine.

Summary: Evas and moons are clouded in Nerima

Spoiler: Evangelion fans really should keep their eyes off this if they haven't watched the End of Evangelion. Well, if they want to see it, anyway. Wouldn't wanna ruin the ending, though I only make some references to it.

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Washuu stared at her scrapped invention warily. All that time, which was a whole span of one week, working on the failed project. Plenty of universes that could've been created from it before THEY came into her lab. It wasn't just Mihoshi, it was mainly Ayeka and Ryoko that messed with the machine. A week after she thought she fixed it was the week where she had to take it apart again.

"Don't talk much, do you?" Washuu let a shadow fall over her as she was overcome with sarcasm, "So far, they seem very normal."

Setsuna peered over Washuu's shoulder, "Besides the 'Jusenkyo' incidents, yes," as she watched the viewscreen.

Washuu sighed. Setsuna always had a problem with interpreting lives as normal or weird. On the viewscreen was a boy who soon formed into a girl of a different haircolor. Beside her was another boy who was long-since attached to an over-starched bandanna. Overall, the scene, including several other odd people appeared weird. Very.

"Apparently, their universe was very remote from the effects of your wonderful machine," even Setsuna could attempt sarcasm, "Their characteristics and background should make the children, stronger."

"Either that or very weird."

They paused as a short-tempered girl with a mallet came onto the viewscreen. With unkind eyes set upon the red-haired female, her mallet soon came in contact with her. As if Washuu was motioning "I told you so", she waited for Setsuna to reply.

"Believe me, Washuu. All of them are."

As Washuu's viewscreen skipped to a scene years ahead into their world, a portal for Setsuna opened. Without any additional words, Setsuna stepped in, while a reflection appeared from Washuu's eyes, of a portal opening with a green-haired woman stepping out.

The portal closed as Touji stared up to the green-haired woman. Just a few minutes ago, he was staring in horror at what looked like his former classmate, Rei, in ghost form, and the next, he was looking up to a green-haired woman with a staff. Touji sputtered some water from his lungs as he took notice of where she brought him.

Already, Touji was thinking of his sister, who lost grip of him during the whole ordeal. Weren't they running together, away from his Rei? Wasn't he running with her only a moment ago? Where was she?

"You made it," Setsuna held no expression, only a patience that was wearing thin, "Now won't you please follow me?"

Not like he held a choice, for it was at the same moment, a flying discus whirled in the air, refusing to stray from its path. He finally felt a cold rush over him, as his knee bent. Even with the will to keep him conscious, Touji finally closed his eyes, and collapsed.

"Eeek, are you alright?" Serena loomed over the fallen boy, I'm sorry, it's just I didn't see you there, and I was just tossing the Frisbee and…"

Setsuna could've let Serena go on forever, but gave her a chilling stare instead, "What'd I tell you about throwing that Frisbee?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you two until after I threw the Frisbee and I'm sorry aunt Setsuna, I really didn't think you and him would be in the way and I know you told me not to throw that thing so hard, but I was just…"

"Never mind, then," Setsuna sighed at both Serena's babbling and the fortunate timing.

Washuu's calculations worked after all. His unconsciousness gave her a quick second to use her staff on him. Touji would come out of his unconsciousness with a large bruise, but most of all, he'd come out with a forgotten past.

Touji came around before they had a chance to attempt lifting him. There he was, lying and opening his eyes to not only the green-haired woman, but also some kawaii blonde with two twisted ponytails on her head. Touji quickly chose to get up.

"Who, who am I?" he blurted some trite phrase used by most amnesiacs, "Uh, who are you?"

"Doesn't he remember anything?" Serena referred to Touji with growing interest, waiting for Setsuna's reply.

"I am Setsuna and this is my niece, Serena," Setsuna attempted a kind voice, "Welcome to Nerima, Touji."

"Nerima?" Touji never heard of such a place. Though, he began to wonder if he was able to recall anything. His memories of his sister, Shinji, Kensuke, and the local shelter seemed to fade from his mind as he tried harder to remember where he was beforehand.

"You erased his memories?" Akane's brow furrowed, "Poor boy, if he can't remember anything of his past, how can he possibly go on?" but then Akane stopped herself, thinking of Serena.

"You know how Serena is. She's perfectly content with who she is," Setsuna sighed, "It'll be the same for Touji."

Setsuna thought back to when Serena's Frisbee made contact with his head. She already foresaw it beforehand, and had her staff set to take his main memories away. All Touji would recall would be his age, most of his education, besides the history of the world he came from. Everything went accordingly in Setsuna's mind, and in Washuu's viewscreen.

"So we'll also take him in, right?" Ranma didn't sound too unwilling, "You said he's fit for the Anything Goes training?"

"Not from you," Setsuna paused a moment, "but what of Ukyou and Ryoga?"

If it'd been fifteen years earlier, Ranma would've shouted in protest, but it wasn't. Awhile after both their weddings, Ryoga and Ukyou became Ranma and Akane's best friends. When she arrived, they wasted no time accepting the role of being her alternative guardians. Even if Ranma pondered the chance to have a son, he'd have to consider the childless relationship Ryoga and Ukyou were in.

"Why not?" Ranma began to remember when Ryoga and Ukyou constantly spoiled Serena. They acted like the true kind of aunt and uncle, passing the job of discipline off to Ranma and Akane. "They could use the experience in real parenting."

There was little protest, if any, from Touji's new guardians. Ryoga suffered the problem of not having a child, as a result of his curse. Since Ranma and Ryoga both fell into Jusenkyo springs, the curse of not having a child was what disheartened both friends. While Ranma turned to a girl in the use of cold water, Ryoga was plagued with the pig form. They both longed for a child, plus an endless supply of hot water nearby to aid them in turning back to human form.

While Ryoga thought of raising a martial artist better than even the formidable Ranma, Ukyou thought of the spatulas she could hand to her new son. Her dream was to have an heir to her thriving restaurant chains. Ukyou's recipes, restaurants, and business were well-off, especially with the aid of Akane's sister. There was no doubt she was a thriving saleperson, but as much as Ukyou liked her marketing skills, Ukyou still wished to pass on the family name.

"We'll name him Mamoru Habiki!" Ukyou blurted with a smile.

"Uh, no," Setsuna shuddered at the thought, "No, he already has a first name."

"Oh," Ukyou sighed as she waited to hear some dreaded name.

"Touji."

Ukyou sighed, "Okay, Touji Habiki."

Ryoga exhaled as he realized they'd probably banter with some female form of talk. Just when did Ukyou tell him of the name for their new son? Women, he sighed, as Ranma once would. One of the main points in their friendship was their total lack of knowledge of them.

Ryoga slid open the door of the Tendo-Saotome-Habiki home. It'd been years since Setsuna rapped his head with her odd staff. Somehow, he lost his curse of being constantly misguided afterwards. Confidently heading over to the backyard pond, he eyed a teenage boy.

Touji cracked his knuckles in thought as a figure appeared in his view. Appearing as at least thirty, he let his eyes fix on the approaching man. In some tan garb, his yellow bandanna signaled Touji that he was some sort of martial artist, like in the history texts. The figure caught his attention.

"And you are?" he tried to mask his curiosity with disdain.

How was he to react to his new "son"? Ryoga slightly felt regretful for all those times he spoiled Serena. Touji seemed like the obstreperous type, slightly like Ranma in his younger years. Ryoga took a deep sigh as he closed his eyes.

As Touji raised a brow to the man, he let the man's first words sink into him.

"Touji, I'm your new father."

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Washuu was sure it'd be months before their memories would fully resurface, though only minutes of fast-forwarding in her viewscreen.

"Serena!" Touji ran across the fencetops, "wait up!"

Still pretending to ignore him, Serena waved her nose in the air, "humph!"

Touji sighed. It was always in that mock-irate manner of hers he knew he did something wrong, even though it probably meant nothing. Quickly catching up to her, Touji walked besides her, merely waiting for her to speak.

"That was a rude thing to do, Touji."

Keeping himself from sighing out loud, Touji tried to look regretful to Serena. "I'm sorry."

Her face lifted right afterwards, "Well, at least you're sorry. Now do you promise to never do it again?"

Touji couldn't help but smile at her cute foolishness, "Yes, meatball-head."

A dark cloud formed over Serena as she took a mallet from her backpack, "That's what you were supposed to be sorry for!"

"Whaaaa?" The force of the mallet immediately propelled Touji all the way across the street.

"Don't call me meatball-head!"

Back in the home of Akane and Ranma's was an old panda and his old companion. Sipping tea, they paused a moment as the sound of Touji's ramming into the street resonated. The panda held a sign "They're definitely on their way to school.". The companion, known as Soun Tendo, nodded in accordance.

Another man stepped into the room where the panda and Soun were sitting. With a gracefully aged face, the man adjusted his glasses as he sat down to the side of the panda and Soun.

"Good day, father." Mr. Tofu greeted Soun, then turned to the panda, "and father Saotome, it is good to see you."

"Growf," was the Panda's kind reply to his guest.

Ranma's father sighed through his panda exterior. It'd been years since he fell into the Jusenkyo Springs like Ranma, turning into a panda as to a girl. Genma Saotome remembered the many cases in which zookeepers would struggle for him, and the many cases he'd search for hot water to be turned back to human form. He still wasn't used to it.

"So Serena and Touji will be visiting my office today, no?"

Soun and the Panda nodded.

It was at the same time that Kasumi stepped into the room. Mr. Tofu immediately perked up to greet his wife. If it'd been fifteen years ago, Tofu would've been pressed to stammer a syllable out of his mouth. Years ago, Tofu would lose all his composure around her. It wasn't until she finally understood his feelings that his stammering stopped, or at least died down.

"How uncute," Touji checked himself for broken bones.

Serena wasn't hard to catch up to, with her constant trips over Nerima's sidewalks. As if she was originally meant to be a klutz, she'd find herself crying over the many scrapes from the cement.

Only that morning, the trip wasn't her fault. Slightly brooding over the previous encounter that left Touji somewhere with his new wounds, she had kept to a straight path in her walk. For Touji, it was relatively easy to track her path to school, only even he hadn't predicted the fast-moving bicycle behind her. Almost driven off the sidewalk, Serena immediately crashed into the road.

"Serena!" her falling figure flashed through his eyes.

There wasn't much time before Touji ran to Serena and checked if she was all right. Apparently, some biker nearly ran into her.

"Waaaaaaaahhhhh!" Serena wasted no time to cry.

She wasn't injured, but whoever caused her fall would be. Touji turned to the boy who stopped his bike. Obviously worried of Serena's condition, Touji saw the boy adjusted his thick glasses as he stooped to Serena's sitting position.

"Ah, okay you are?" the boy's nasal voice struck Touji's mind.

"How could she?" Touji lifted the boy by his collar, "You nearly killed her, you jerk."

"So sorry!" the boy tried to speak, "She no sees there! I so sorry!"

Touji was crossed between bewilderment of the boy's speech and the odd familiarity of his voice, even with the fake accent behind it. With the odd recollection of another face closely resembling that of the boy's, he shook his head. The accent was so false, different from the memory of the boy that was flashing through his mind.

"Say that again!" Touji opened his eyes in a flash of anger.

"Touji," Serena's crying stopped long before, "It's all right. It was just an accident."

The boy couldn't help but nod in agreement.

At first in malice, the fist Touji made immediately wavered. The scene was too familiar, as if he'd done something like this before, with that boy nearby. Touji was still wondering what to do of the boy, to either pound him, or ask if he knew him.

His instinct won the conflict, "You should've watched where you were going!" The boy was hurled a few feet away.

Again, Touji was recalling something, as if he had done this before. Cracking his knuckles, Touji could've continued the punitive experience, but looked to Serena instead. She wasn't pleased with what was going on. She seemed to hint the biker was obviously sorry from the start.

"Get outta here!" Touji knew he had to let him go.

The boy wasted no time, even with his newly broken glasses. Without looking back, the boy amazingly recovered and hopped onto his bike.

"Why'd you do that?" Serena's eyes were tinged with an odd glow of anger.

"I, Serena," Touji's voice was immediately small before he was cut off.

"He was already sorry, you idiot! You could've injured him!"

"I, I'm sorry," Touji then peered into her eyes, "I just wanted to protect you, meatball-head."

Both turned silent until Serena let herself sigh.

"Don't call me meatball-head."

"Yes, love," Touji paused at his outburst, looking to the ground.

Serena was silenced also, pondering the meaning of the word. She heard it plenty of times, from parents and family, but from another guy? All that time, he called her meatball-head, she knew he'd eventually use the L-word. Somehow, it was reminding her of someone else, some other memory that was bottled inside of her.

It took her a few more seconds before she realized her mind was delving into the matter too far.

Out of her quandary, Serena walked on to smile, "That's better." She motioned for him to follow.

Touji hesitated a moment before walking to her. Every day to school, he used the term, "meat-ball head". Was "love" any different, or was it just a safer substitute? Still, it was one word that wouldn't cause him to bruise later. With an arm wrapped around her shoulder, Touji proceeded with Serena for the rest of the way to school.

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(Later that day)

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Every month, Serena went to her uncle's medical office for examination. All he'd do is show her some stained papers, and she'd give her answers. She never received anything from them, just the queer feeling of something she forgot.

"Okay, I want you to tell me what you see from this picture," Mr. Tofu took out an inkblot.

"A banana," Serena sighed at the inkblot she saw many times beforehand.

"Are you sure you see nothing else?" Tofu smiled in encouragement.

"Yeah, love," Touji leaned in to whisper, "Besides, you'll get a lollipop if you're more descriptive."

Forgetting Tofu's later-used retort, Serena focused on the word "love" once more again. Why was it becoming so hard for her to focus when she heard the word? Blurry images were dwelling in her mind, waiting to be resurfaced. As she turned to look back to her inkblot, she sighed once again.

Serena began to stare at the crescent-shaped inkblot in wonder. The harder she stared, the harder it became to say it looked like only one thing. There were multiple images forming in her mind, though she wasn't quite sure what they meant. The look of a masked tuxedo, the moon, images of people she couldn't yet identify in her conscious state. /Serena/ was the call of some foreign, male voice.

"Serena," Touji looked at the dazed girl for a moment, "Serena!"

Suddenly jerked from what she was recalling, Serena looked back up at Mr. Tofu. "a moon."

Tofu couldn't believe it himself. Every month, he tried the technique since the anniversary of Serena's arrival to their world. Only then was she remembering. It was as if the "banana" Serena usually saw was becoming something more. It was time for her to regain her past.

Immediately, he wondered if Touji would have the same effect. Serena and Touji often experienced the same events, with their closeness. Even if he arrived two years after Serena, there was a slight chance he'd recall something. After at least ten more "basic" inkblots, Tofu shifted his test onto Touji.

Outside the doctor's building was the fake-accented-boy. Only a few minutes ago, he was supposed to arrive at the Habiki Restaurant Headquarters. Once again, he was rushing on his bicycle, and forgot to spot something in front of him.

"Aaaaah!" his voice resonated around the area as he was hurled into the garbage truck.

He could've sworn he heard a familiar voice. Slightly distracted from the testing, his mind was flooded with dark images. He knew he forgot something, but it wasn't yet clear to him what it was.

Touji turned to the butterfly-shaped inkblot with wonder. A strange word formed in his mind, which loosened other images from his subconscious. Somehow, he recalled clearer images, of a fourteen-year-old boy from his past, an unkempt, childish woman, a blue-haired girl, and plenty others that made no sense. It was then he finally realized the word he was thinking. "An angel."

Touji wasn't as distraught as Serena, though something in both of them appeared awry. The fact that he was put into a trance-like state meant he was remembering.

"Nothing."

It was a lie. Tofu worked with the boy too many times with that same inkblot, receiving the same description, "a butterfly". Why would it be different that time?

"I think that should be all for today," Tofu led Touji and Serena outside his office. "Let's head home."

In Ranma and Akane's home lived numerous individuals. There was the panda (Ranma's dad), Soun Tendo, Ryoga, Ukyou, Kasumi, and finally Mr. Tofu, who took residence there after his marriage to Kasumi.

Touji stepped in the house, only to see a flying umbrella hurtle towards him. Immediately ducking, he shouted, "Dad!"

The umbrella swung back towards its owner, a man of at least thirty years. "You could've caught it."

"Uh huh!" The flying object passed through Tofu's hair seemed to have styled it like a weedwhacker would. "I think I'll go check on Kasumi," his voice faded as he swiftly headed towards the kitchen.

"And if I couldn't?" even through the calm of his tone, the words were tinged with ice.

"You couldn't have trained enough then," Ryoga walked back towards the room of his origin. "Come."

"More 'practice," Touji sighed, then looked to Serena more lightly, "Seeya at dinner."

The echoes of his father and a sparring partner immediately replaced Touji's presence in the room. As he trudged towards the room, the sounds of splashing materials, a squealing pig, and a high-pitched female voice filled his ears.

Mihoshi knew it was time to visit Washuu. How long had it been since Washuu went into her lab? Ten, no Fifteen minutes? Deciding it was her time to step in, she swayed through the basement door, unnoticing the warning signs before her.

"Oh, Washuu!"

She could've sworn she heard Mihoshi. Washuu wasted no time to secure her materials. Every time Washuu appeared in her lab was the times when Washuu considered "life insurance". Even the "greatest scientist in the universe" couldn't combat the unluckiness of having that clumsy blonde around.

"I'll be right out!" Washuu decided to take a break from her viewscreen, "Don't come in!"

She sighed immediately as she realized it was too late.

"Okay, I'll just wait out there and," Mihoshi's path out the lab was interrupted by her stare at what looked like a "bright, shiny crystal", "What's this?"

Unfortunately, Mihoshi hadn't seen the staff that belonged to the crystal, nor the person holding it. "Huh?" was the last word Mihoshi muttered before being pulled into it.

"What'd you do to her?" Washuu wasn't sure if it was from shocked curiosity, or from anger.

"Don't worry. She's alive," Setsuna appeared from a shadow, "But she won't be any help here for awhile."

In less than a second, Washuu contemplated "awhile" with no Mihoshi. No more unwanted intrusions into her lab, messed-up experiments, no more time spent to conjure the failed measures to block Mihoshi from the lab completely. "Awhile" quickly became a calming word.

"How long?" Washuu looked up to Setsuna.

She could've said the typical "that's for me to know and you to find out" phrase, but refrained. She said nothing at all for a moment as another figure emerged from what seemed like a never-ending shadow.

"Long enough to keep you safe."

Washuu gazed at the other woman. Her red eyes were just as peculiar as the blue hair she presented. In a glance, one could've mistaken her for a teenager, but Washuu observed her intently.

"Another ol' friend of yours?" Washuu still stared at the female as she waited for an answer.

"Washuu, meet Rei."

Washuu felt herself being absorbed somehow by Rei. She couldn't help but stare into the red eyes with wonder. It felt like an hour before she was diverted from the unblinking eyes.

Rei blinked. The "young" woman before her would not relent. She just stared at her, as if she knew everything within her through the eyes.

"Another one of the 'saved'," Rei felt flooded with her memories.

"From what?" Washuu knew one of them would answer.

Setsuna let Rei see herself or at least the embodiment of her when she supposedly "died". Her form, taken by "Lilith" to bring together the unfortunate individuals in her world. When she saw the first human turned to the liquid, she was suddenly disgusted with the process. It was only a few minutes ago she arrived at the Masaki Shrine and a few minutes before that when she died in the other universe.

"So there's more to these disruptions," Washuu turned back to her viewscreen, which showed a group of martial artists.

"With more people," Setsuna gripped her staff a little tighter, "And more to do."

Touji was beyond groaning over his sore muscles. Even in the memories he couldn't quite recall, he knew he was more enduring. Unlike the "Shinji" that was surfacing in his mind, he could take a few sessions with the martial artists.

In a reverie of the past, Touji eyed the Tendo-Saotome-Habiki backyard. Before that day, he could only recall the glimmer of Serena's aunt, "Setsuna" as his earliest memory. He never understood how Setsuna was related to her, nor seemed to care until he met that accented-boy. So many memories of familiar people flowed into him, he wondered where Setsuna was related in it. Was she just the first person he met when he arrived in that world, or was there more to her?

"Mamoru." Serena whispered to the sky.

Only a few weeks ago, she remembered everything. She was once a SailorScout. Mamoru was once Tuxedo Mask, the love who constantly worked to save her from perilous situations, only he was brainwashed, working for the malevolent Queen Beryl. As she stared at the memories in her mind, Serena wished them to go away.

She was in another world, annexed for the sake of the guizhinshou, since she was Princess Serenity. She remembered the green-haired "guardian of time" that told of worse things to come. Serena still couldn't understand how her use of some "guizhinshou" would wipe out the other SailorScouts, and especially, her Mamoru. It was only from looking into the woman's despaired eyes that she knew she had to leave the world she was in, to prevent whatever tragedies ahead in time.

A cold wind brushed against her as she heard the crackling of numerous leaves, "Serena, aren't you coming in?"

Turning around, she only confirmed the voice she guessed would speak to her. Touji was the type who'd care the most at the crucial times, but he was never a Sailor Scout, so he had no idea how to help.

"Touji, it's cold," Serena continued quickly, "I mean, for you. Shouldn't you head inside?"

If he'd been hurt, he didn't let it show, "You must come inside. C'mon, love, Akane's worried about you."

Serena noted Akane for a brief moment. She was twice her age, only slightly younger than her own mom, but Akane still wore the youthful face that kept her content. She was a doting motherly figure, but she still wasn't a real mother.

Shaking the thought away, Serena let Touji lead her back to their home. She knew her life with the SailorScouts had to be forgotten again, if she was ever to go on in life.

"What's with Serena?" Ranma scarfed down the last of his chicken before continuing, "she seems kinda down today..."

"Just like last week, last month," Nabiki cut in, "Even Touji's baffled."

"You don't think her memory's returning," Ranma stated the obvious.

"Of course, she had another life in Setsuna's world," Kasumi lifted Ranma's empty dishes from the table, "Once she's remembered fully, it'll be hard for her to forget."

"Poor Serena, poor Touji," Akane looked out the window, "and he has no idea."

"NiHao!"

Akane's head jerked violently in response to the nearby shout. The roughly accented female voice seemed too familiar, Akane knew it belonged to only one person.

"Shampoo!" The others around Akane got up from the table to greet her, especially Nabiki.

"Shampoo!" Nabiki grinned, "How's it going?"

"Ah, so years many!" Shampoo smiled, "Place same as left."

Same as left. To Ranma, everything changed over those thirteen years. So many times, he had to go through skits of being run over by Shampoo's bicycle or hit by Akane's mallet. Whenever she was around, she reminded him of the Amazon law's "engagement" he had to her. His marriage with Akane began to settle only when Shampoo supposedly gave up on Ranma, and finally found someone else.

"But bring someone different!" Shampoo stepped outside the house only to bring in Mousse, who was slowly followed by a teenage boy.

"Meet son, Kensuke!"

In a tongue other than Chinese or Japanese, Shampoo whispered to Kensuke, "Relax, they're old pals."

Hesitating a moment, Kensuke took a breath before speaking what his parents taught him in Japanese. "Hello."

While Kensuke quickly quieted, the others around him could only wonder if he was truly Shampoo's son. He spoke perfect Japanese, almost more fluently than the Tendos and Tofus, Habikis, and Saotomes in the room. Unlike Shampoo, whose heavy accent butchered their language, Kensuke spoke like a scholar.

Nabiki took the chance to break the silence around Kensuke. "So, you were her son all along," She thought of first meeting him before that day. Apparently, when he first arrived to intern at her office, he was the first to fix most of the newly arrived computers. Glancing into his eyes, she quickly knew Shampoo was lying.

"So all that time," Nabiki noticed Kensuke sweat slightly as she continued, "That you were after Ranma, you had another child."

"Pardon?" Shampoo's rough accent dissipated.

Nabiki already knew Shampoo was speaking in English. Years in the university gave her the chance to freshen her foreign language skills.

In the English she remembered from before, Nabiki turned to Shampoo. "He's not your son, is he?"

Shampoo shook her head, "Of course not. He would've been born while Ranma was marrying Akane."

At the mention of his name Ranma perked up, "Mind telling us what's going on?"

"Sure," Mousse sighed. In a more fluent speech, he continued, "Nabiki just found out Kensuke isn't our real son."

Instinctively, Kasumi led Kensuke out of the room. Pointing out the window, Kasumi smiled, "Would you be a dear and have Serena and Touji come in?" Meaning the two dim figures in the backyard, she stepped back into the house.

While Kasumi headed back to the living room where the others were, Kensuke chose to see whom she meant.

As Touji was leading Serena back inside, he noticed a familiar figure approaching him.

"Aaah!" Kensuke felt off guard as he eyed the dim figure before him. Only a few feet away from the irated boyfriend from earlier that day, his only instinct was to run.

"Come back here, you worm!" Touji was ready to cream the trespasser, "Just what the … are you doing here?"

Tenchi eyed his new residence warily. Washuu told him the world would be different, but never so small. In the instant he realized the house was quickly increasing in size.

"Huh?" Tenchi took the chance to look directly beneath him. As he realized the ground was quite far below him, he couldn't help but breath, "Oh, no."

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH…." Was what suddenly caught the attention of Serena and Kensuke, but mostly Touji.

The voice seemed to come closer and closer to him. There was no chance to look up to the person to whom it belonged before he felt something extremely heavy on his back.

"Get. Off. Me!" Touji felt his temper rise as he was overcome with dizziness.

Tenchi knew the Touji he was currently on was supposed to be strong, but even he couldn't endure a rapidly descended person on him. Anyone would at least…

"I think he's passed out." Kensuke stared down to Touji.

"Touji!" Serena hastened to his side.

"Um…" Tenchi got off him immediately. "I think we should bring him inside."

Seeing the two strangers pick up Touji, Serena couldn't help but wonder what was goin' on. "Who…who are you?" She was expecting an answer from both of them.

"Tenchi Masaki. But let's first go inside."

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Author's Notes: Whenever new characters are brought in, it takes a lotta time to establish who they are, where they came from, and what they're like. Since this is ONLY one part of the prologue, reading through them will hopefully establish some kinda characterization. If the characters seem Out O Character, email me, cuz the feedback would be great encouragement enough for continuing.

Characters: This time, I've decided to refrain from writing "Cliff-Note" stuff for the story.

So many acknowledgements could be made for the owners of the anime in this story. But "Tempus Fugit" (time flies) when trying to mention all of them.


	3. 02 - Oak finds the truth of Pokemon & Ea...

Summary: Oak finds the truth of Pokemon & Earth and Ash stumbles to propose to Misty

Note: This is all of prologue part 3: a (revised), b, and c.

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PETRAS (Prologue part 3a) "What Oak Never Wanted to

Know"

Disclaimer: I Don't own the anime most of these

characters belong to (I wish I did), and I make no profit from

it (though that would be nice too).

C&C to ilumanae@yahoo.com

The recap's at the bottom of this story

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Spoiler note: For Extreme Evangelion fans, if you didn't

watch the end of Evangelion, or didn't read the scripts, or

just don't wanna know what happened, avoid this story for

awhile. . .

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(Back to the story)

Watching the viewscreen, Washuu felt her lungs wail.

"Pick up that disk!"

Oak could've sworn he heard a slightly nasal voice in the distance, but shrugged as he passed through his main laboratory. He already had strange visions every night during the past week; a red-haired woman passed through those dreams. He didn't need to lose his mind to such peculiarities during his consciousness.

Still, odd feelings rushed upon him as he passed by his desk. He was working towards a more alert slowbro, but found himself becoming less awake each day. Oak was to either evolve the creature, orto increase its intelligence. It was one difficult task. "Every day I keep thinking he'll evolve, somehow," Oak muttered to himself, "But all he ever does is look back at me."

Slowbro, the pokemon fused to a clam on his tail, merely looked back to the Professor dazedly. Who knew what that Slowbro really thought behind the expressionless face. At times, Oak began to feel SlowBro and other Pokemon like PsyDuck were just dumb Pokemon. It was too frustrating; too hard to figure why they were like that. Not once had he seen any expression that'd tell him they knew what was going on.

"That disk!" Washuu began to key into her computer a command that would have something hit Oak on his head.

A green-haired lady formed out of nowhere into Washuu's laboratory. Like she had once done before, she felt no fear or cluelessness of Washuu. Sensing the slight wince in Washuu, the green-haired lady turned to see the viewscreen.

"A little frustrated?" Setsuna didn't wait for Washuu to reply. "Just watch for another minute."

In less than a minute, Oak was slamming his clipboard to his neglected desk. All that time he'd tried figuring the slowbro problem, with no avail. If he'd been just a little more irate, he might've missed the yellowdisk that caught his eyes.

"Hello, what do have here?" Oak scrolled his mind to realize he never had a disk that color.

Staring at the viewscreen in slight awe, Washuu mouthed, "How the. . .did she know?"

Oak placed the disk in his computer, letting thousands of files appear on the screen. Looking to the first of the batch, he chose to try it.

"And this is where he finds that video file, right?" Washuu caught on to what would happen next. Besides, she WAS the "greatest scientist in the universe".

Oak watched as the red-haired woman of his dreams appeared to him in the video, speaking of "Earth" and then some distortion of time. Even for a brilliant scientist,

Oak was dumbfounded. As he opened the file the video instructed him to try, he muttered, "Terra incognita?"

Impassively, Setsuna turned to Washuu. "Once he digs into the truth, it'll take him a while to actually believe it."

"You really think he'd trust some disk?" But Washuu knew Setsuna was right. "Well, even if he did, do you really expect him to carry it out?"

"I don't. You know that." The green-haired lady's staff glowed with the picture of a group of teenagers sitting below two adults with enlarged TR's on their shirts. "But at least it'll give them hope. That's what'll matter the most."

Oak looked at his trash bin wearily. He knew it was the truth, despite all the lies he kept telling himself. He and his companions wasting their lives over studying those "pocket monsters" when in truth, all the answers were in that disk

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"You know how it'll always be," his eyes never strayed from Misty's as he clasped her hand in his. "But I wanted to finally ask..."

Misty gasped at the small jewelry box Ash was taking from his pocket.

"Misty, will you marr..."

Gary looked to the two sixteen-year-olds with an air of stoicism. There kneeled Ash, who wasn't wearing his worn-out cap that time, in front of what was catching his attention. There was the auburn-haired maiden looking down in either shock or anticipation. He had been watching them for a minute before he realized they saw him.

"Yo, Ash," Gary looked unaffected. "Grandpa wants to talk to you."

"Huh, right now?" Ash looked a little anxious to return to his conversation. Almost gruffly, he asked, "What about?""You know, probably the usual," Gary paused and with a slightly softer voice continued, "He also wants to see you too,

Misty."

"Um, sure," Misty stopped herself from going overboard, "It's not about that slowbro, is it?"

Guessing exactly what Gary had, he looked to Misty for a few seconds before catching himself. It'd been around four years since he realized Misty and Ash were together, and would be together for a long time. All those years where he dated several girls, maybe hundreds were the years when Misty would repeatedly make it clear: she was Ash's. It was during those years that Gary struggled with the thought on how Ash knew it all along, and was merely let it rub in.

Ash himself was preoccupied, or he was until Gary appeared. "Figures!" Ash sighed in his mind, thinking of the times Ash was sent to some trip. All those years after they stopped competing with each other through their Pokemon, they were just competing. Ash had his final chance to beat Gary, well, to the altar.

Yet, he had ruined the moment. Ash was only a minute or so away from his agenda, when Gary carried an "important" message. Figures.

"If it is, Oak already sent me to check out Rochelle Town last week," Ash stood from his past kneeling position, "The only slowbro I saw there was deceased."

Not that he overlooked the matter. Ash grieved every lost Slowbro, or at least he tried to. So many slowbros were falling to a mysterious virus. Apparently, the Slowbro virus worked quicker than it had sounded. Every slowbro nearby it would lose the will to eat, to live, and would eventually turn too decrepit to survive. All the slowbros Ash had his diggletts bury appeared so sad, even through the masks of their impassive faces. It was too much for Ash, too much for everyone.

"Lesse, a gourmet dinner, ginger ale, candles, a picnic blanket," Brock was checking his bag of supplies until he completely dropped them. "Oh, no, where's Jenny?"

Brock could've sworn he was walking through the forest with Officer Jenny just a few minutes ago. Scrambling through his thoughts, he could only wonder why Jenny would disappear, especially after they heard the yell of some mysterious figure.

Slapping himself on forehead, he could only stutter, "D..D..Darn." The Jenny from Pallet Town was just like all the other officers. She was probably investigating the situation, as was the instinct for all the Officer Jennies.

Walking back to where he and Jenny heard the "mysterious" voice, he eyed Jenny. There she was, tapping her feet, as if she was waiting for him all along.

"Where were you?" her eyes were slit in anger.

"Jenny, dear, I. . ." Brock couldn't help but feel frustrated. Suddenly reflecting her expression, Brock replied, "Looking for you."

It didn't take Brock very long to relent. As with any Jenny, Brock couldn't stand being mad at one for very long, if ever. Changing his tone to a more apologetic appeal, his voice became almost inaudible. "Sorry."

Jenny's dour expression was lifted. "That's okay, Brock. I should've told you where I was off too, anyway." During that reply, Brock felt like falling over. "It was just a wild Growlithe."

Picking up the pace of the conversation, Brock felt more light-hearted. The argument he usually went through with Jenny would end quickly. "That's a relief. So, then," Brock's voice became less confident. He'd been planning to ask the question the whole past week. At every date, even with the romantic settings, he'd either forget or be too intimidated. He waited all his life to marry a Jenny or Nurse Joy. Why couldn't he try then?

The setting wasn't very romantic, yet it seemed perfect to Brock. The swamp-like forest around them seemed to be swarmed with insects and bugs, yet there wasn't a person in site. The hum of the butterfrees inhabiting the swamp seemed to tell him "Will you marry me?"

"What?" Jenny obviously heard Brock's outburst.

"Um. . .well, Jenny," Brock was first startled, but felt his voice slowly crescendo. "Will you do the honor of being my wife?'

He said it perfectly, or at least didn't stutter the question to her.

It didn't take long to hear a reply, as Brock's ears were flooded with the joyful shout "Yes!"

There wasn't much to talk about that didn't lead to more silence. If there was anything to save the faltering conversation, it had to come right then and there.

It was then that two gleeful teenagers distracted the faltered conversation. One of them was a brown-haired male with a green-linen vest. The other was a slightly shorter female whose blue hair seemed to stand out even in the darkness. Both seemed to be in a daze as they approached Ash, Misty, and Gary.

"Hey Ash!" Brock held Jenny's right hand up, "Guess what?"

The ring on Jenny's finger caught Misty's attention the quickest. "You're getting married?!"

One quick nod from the officer brought on a fury of excitement.

All through the hysterics and delight, Gary remained silent. Was he the only one remembering why they were supposed to meet with Oak? As if he was waiting through eternity, he halted the conversation on the future wedding with "Grandpa wants to see us."

The boy across him immediately responded. If Gary looked closer to what the teenager was placing in his pocket, he might've forgotten about "Grandpa". Walking towards the building behind them, Ash walked off. The hand that was once in his pocket was then occupied in sifting through his dark hair.

In complete innocence to the proceedings, Misty walked after him, thus leaving the rest of the group behind. "Ash," Misty was gasping as he paused for her, "What'd you run off for?"

"I walked," Ash responded, only to meet a mallet. Strangely, he kept the same stance, even with Misty's acute irritation.

"You could've waited." Receiving no answer, Misty sighed, "Gary always interrupts our conversations, do you ever realize? Umm, by the way, what were you going to ask?"

No matter what age, Ash was a toddler in handling relation-ships. Confused by Brock's new engagement and angered by the bad timing, he sighed.

"Um, Misty..." Ash sighed, then pleaded, "if you can, will you. . ."

"Yes?. . ."

". . . wait till' next week for the question?"

What was it, a weekly soap' or somethin'? But knowing Ash, Misty grumbled, "Yes."

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"Where were you?" Oak fumed at the group before him. "Uh, O. . .Professor Oak," Ash noted the aged man. Only a few weeks ago, the man was passionately recalling all the heights of the Pokemon in the world. Professor Oak was so full of scientific fervor and youth in his old age. What changed?

"I won't tolerate lateness like this any more. From now on, I expect more discipline, especially with this new. . . assignment."

"Project?" Jenny wasn't sure if she was supposed to be part of the research staff.

"Yes. I'll need all the help I can get for this," Oak paused as he held up a yellow disk before continuing, "This disk."

Gary chose to take his turn in explaining by being handed the disk. "Apparently, Grandpa discovered the disk while researching the Slowbro Project." He inserted the disk into a computer as he typed a few commands. "Call this a preview."

As a red-haired woman came onto the computer screen, Professor Oak sighed, "You're not gonna like this."

Onscreen was a red-haired lady. Obviously not shy of the camera, she cleared her throat a moment before beginning to speak.

"As you can see, I, Washuu, the greatest scientist in the," she seemed to turn in the direction of an offscreen woman's voice. "Get on with it." Before continuing, Washuu sighed, and then turned back to the camera. "I, the world's greatest scientist in the universe have discovered why you're here."

"Is this some kind of joke?" Ash looked to Oak for some kind of laugh, but saw the ireful and sleepless man wasn't in the mood for humor.

"When looking back into your history, it spanned over another planet."

It took a full ten minutes before the red-haired woman showed them the planet she meant. Beforehand, she was only noting the history of Pokemon, and how they were AT FIRST genetically altered creations by the colonists who inhabited their land. Who'd believe her account of "animals", the convenient use oftransporting them with Pokeballs? (Hence the name Pokemon), their unique adaptations to their new world and eventual "evolutions"?

While the idea was harebrained at the first second, it was almost...

After slightly accepting the theory, the viewers of the vid, besides Oak, wondered of the green and blue planet "Washuu" waspresenting. Technologically advanced from some screenshots, the "Earth" seemed to amaze, and mostly worry them.

When Oak mumbled something about an "invasion" during the viewing, Ash phased out a second. His dreams of marriage, possibly a family, somehow...dwindled.

"Professor Oak, did you just say something?"

Oak sighed ruefully, "Wait and you'll see."

"Ahem!" the screen's narrator, Washuu seemed to say.

Somehow, the viewers didn't seem to hear it, but weresomehow brought back to attention on the screen.

"...and apparently, the inhabitants of Earth were forced to evacuate into two main colonial groups. From, most likely, your new *friends*, the Alayans."

A screen with pictures of industrial, city-sized spacecraftappeared and dissipated to show the scientist again. The roomanswered the scientist's presentation with tense twitches and gasps of reaction.

"...I suggest you gather all your possible forces and immediatelyfollow these plans from the disk. I promise to send further information once gathered.," Washuu gritted worriedly on the screen. "You have roughly a year, or less, before their arrival from space. Use that time well..." and the vid went blank.

What affected Officer Jenny the most was The so-called "forces" of their world were almost nil, even with the local police stations in each town. Jenny usually relied on her Growlithes for backup instead of other towering warships. The only type of large army Jenny heard of being developed was consisting mainly of Pokemon. The factor of having another dominating world was too overwhelming. Still, Washuu hinted the luck of having highly developed "animals", which on their world rightfully known as "Pokemon". There had to be a chance.

"I can't help but feel sorry for them." Washuu sighed at her viewscreen.

Washuu could've sworn she saw Rei nod before she began to speak, in her monotone way. "Professor Washuu, the job left to you now is in observing them carefully, like a guardian...angel."

Washuu raised a brow, but preceeded in viewing their world, alongwith a few others her viewscreen was able to.

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Those who didn't first laugh off the news broadcast in Rochelle Town were divided. Some Pokemon owners still preferred having their Pokemon outside the Pokeballs, but others worried. In the case of emergency, they'd be needed. Even with the turmoil over the news, there were an even more select few who were dealing with the broadcast. It was only six months or so after the reports were confirmed, by notable entities like Professor Oak or Professor Bill. . .

"Five months, dear," James sighed, "You promise to stay the same afterwards?"

Stay the same. The wife standing beside him sighed as they looked over the town center. Nothing stayed the same when they began their chain of restaurants, shopping centers, and any other franchise that involved money. When they started the legal life, they became incredibly wealthy. Their lives had changed.

Jesse fingered a lock of James' turquoise hair. "Only if you do."

From the roof of their building, they could've looked upon the town forever, but time intervened. Entering the rooftop apartment, a bushed Meowth struggled to bring in a cardboard box. With a hoarse, worn voice, he called from an empty room, "Jesse, James!"

Both the tall, auburn-haired female and the blue-haired billionaires turned in the direction of the voice. They knew a long time ago the ambition and spirit in the quickly aging feline Meowth made him as valuable as the past "precious" pokemon they met before. As they turned to the living room, both Jesse and James reminisced of the past Team Rocket lives.

"To protect the world from devastation," Jesse smiled.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," James continued.

"Team Rocket blasting off at the speed of light,"

"Surrender now or prepare to figh. . ." James' line was shortly cut off.

"Jesse! James!" Meowth's worn voice beckoned once again for them to go.

"Just a second, Meowth!" Jesse yelled. She never appreciated their old motto being interrupted.

Heaving the box to one of the couches nearby, Meowth merely sighed. Every time he entered the couple's apartment, it'd take them a few minutes for them to even respond. They were married how long?

As their mumbles decreased in sound, there was an increase in nearness as Meowth heard them approaching. Taking a half-filled, blue 3-inch binder from the box, he opened it instantaneously to some random page.

"I was expecting you two," he looked down to the page, which had some random scribbles and cartoon doodles on it.

Immediately switching the page in embarrassment, he directed his attention to another page, filled with numbers and some dozen calculations. "Ah, yes. The 'ETRAS report'.

I trust you two read over the booklets I gave you."

Their blank expressions told him no. "Just where were you two last night?!"

"Going over the Celadon City Mall accounts!" Jesse blurted.

At the exact time, James replied, "At the Saffron City Convention!"

Afterward, they immediately said each other's replies, bringing them into a deeper hole than before.

"At the movies," they both sighed afterwards.

Normally, Meowth would've readied his claws in annoyance, but merely stood in front of them. At first statuesque, Meowth's expression slowly dissolved into a smile.

"How'd I get stuck with you two?" he walked back towards the cardboard box, reaching in it for two portfolios. Red and blue, he handed them to Jesse and James.

"Pretty much, they're the budget reports for this whole Sector 9."

"Refresh me again on 'Sector 9'?" James sighed as he opened the portfolio. His jaw dropping at the site of some disturbing numbers on the report, he turned to the cat. "Are you nuts?! This'll cost us millions!"

"Correction, hundreds of millions!" Jesse mirrored James's expression.

"What're you trying to do to us?" It didn't matter which of the two said it.

Meowth used his claws that time. "Don't you remember? This is because of the whole ETRAS ordeal!"

They looked to each other for a clue, both recalling all they'd forgotten during the night watching the new Spielbug movie. Something about close encounters with the relatively same kind. . .

"Ah, yeah, the 'gotta-save-our-planet' budget."

"Exactly." Meowth quieted a moment, continuing, "The base that's got our fair city's planning officials quirked."

Directly 1700 meters below them was a station housing at least thousands of former "pokemon trainers". Only six months ago, they'd given up training for Pokemon leaguesand turned to training for something greater. Their planet.

Only, what separated them from the hundreds of thousands of other trainers who'd done the same was where they were there. Underground.

"It's been, what, four months here?" Richie poured some soda into his mug. "Want some?"

Ash waved one hand as he read one of many documents strewn on his desktop. "Nah. Misty noted how that company polluted the Orange Sea.Looking towards the label of "Purple Soda", Richie merely sighed. From getting to know Misty, he realized she wasn't his type. Her love of water, and all the special creatures in it, would obviously eliminate most food choices. Every time Ash told him of some of the substances that quirked Misty, which once happened daily, he sighed.

As he put down the bottle of "Purple Soda", Richie sighed again, but in relief that he wasn't in that kind of relationship.

"You miss her," Richie commented, as he was already over the loss of the soda.

Ash stared at the document titled "ETRAS". He just couldn't concentrate on all the figures, the notations, that report that was updated daily. Of course he missed her.

Putting the packet of papers down, the teenager replied, "That obvious?"

"I could read you like a book. An easily read one, that is." Richie glanced a moment towards the purple soda. "Why don't you just call her?"

"There's supposed to be a limited contact with the outside, remember? One call every month or so."

"So, you can fudge the rules a little, Commander." Richie cunningly remarked, only to frown at his statement. When a law applied to the soldiers under his command, it counted doubly for himself. "Well, it's been, what, four months since you've contacted her? Besides, by now, she probably thinks you're dead or something."

"There was a time when she actually thought so," Ash recalled Lavender Town from his statement and smiled in thought. "It shook her up then, but now, I think.. ."

"She'd be plenty worried now." Richie might've seemed slightly irritated. "Just like she's worried now."

Seeming to ignore the comment, Ash picked up the document again, looking it over a minute before returning his gaze to Richie. "It seems that Oak's slowbro's still survived."

"That's the daily report?" Richie knew there was more to the headline.

"That and apparently, he's found more to the ETRAS disk."

The ETRAS disk. Richie saw it only once; realizing it was named after the label on it. Even if he didn't see the contents within it himself, he'd heard plenty from rumors and mostly Ash that it was what stirred their whole operation. Whether it was still classified was another lingering thought that crept into his mind.

Richie listened as Ash continued; "There were these coordinates in one of the data files." Ash held the report up.

"Just coordinates?" Richie didn't need to ask "Nothing more?"

"Probably a sign I'd better give him a call," Ash said exactly what he was motioning to do. Pressing a speed-dial button, he was immediately connected with the scientist. Ash knew from months before that he wouldn't see the Oak of the past. None of that scientific enthusiasm that lighted those near him, Oak was aging. With no sign of the youthful expression in the senior, Ash expected a forlorn scientist.

He called one. Oak, who was right next to the videophone, instead let it ring awhile before giving into it. He was no longer delved into work that he'd forget the phone by accident; he just chose to let it ring.

Come the sixth ring, Oak gave up and went in front of the phone camera, answering it in a hoarse manner. "Hello?" his voice creaked. He answered the caller's first question with "Yeah, it's been faxed to pretty much every sector."

"I see," Ash's voiced, letting the silence on the other end direct him to continue. "So pretty much, you forgot to tell Sector 9 what it was."

"Not to you." Oak couldn't help sounding rough as he said it. Continuing after a very short pause, he sighed. "No, not to anyone. If anyone thought it was important, I would've been called."

Ash knew how Oak preferred sharing his information in person. "It must be, professor. Why else was the headline so vague?"

Whatever. Oak could've said something like it, but he was somehow flattered. Oak originally intended the headline to be "eye-catching" that day, but only Ash had requested an answer to it. "Yes," Oak's voice suddenly uplifted. "In truth, the coordinates were well-placed. They're not there!"

While Oak held the same posture and expression like the minute before, the gaze of his eyes had changed. He seemed to glow of interest towards the subject. "What do you mean?" Ash asked inevitably, growing in more curiosity.

"As if the space around it disappeared, Ash. I had both G and M check out the coordinates and points around it. Nothing, though there was enough evidence to believe there was . . ."

"Something," Ash ended the sentence. "So you mean we were meant to find that place?"

"Possibly. But don't you mean us scientists here?"

Ash nodded. There was more to discuss with their conversation, but they both had duties. Ash had to act as the Commander of Sector 9, and Oak had his own obligations, to the Pokemon and the new "coordinate problem".

Gary and Misty themselves were delved into their work. What were they planning to become? Astronomers?

Their conversation ended only minutes afterward. Ash was more focused on the daily drill exercises, over the scientific data he'd probably never understand. Oak walked over to G and M. Like usual, Gary stood over the telescope machinery with one eye on the lens, and the other on M. Misty would record the data read to her, and would usually repeat the dictation, for every observation to remain relevant. They worked unusually well together.

Once she recognized the approaching figure, Misty exclaimed, "Professor!" Her smile seemed to light up the room. Either she was finally contacted by Ash or she and Gary discovered something. It was the latter.

"Professor Oak," Gary took the chance to greet him formally. "Apparently Washuu's coordinates were off."

Somewhere in the cosmos was a red-haired scientist screaming at her viewscreen, "What?"

"Please. Explain." Oak was once again felt somewhat morose. Sitting down at the desk closest to the pair of astronomers, he seemed to motion "I'm all ears".

Gary immediately typed numerous codes into a nearby computer. The first of three images appearing was of mere space. Shortly after was the viewing of a blurry light. Typing more commands, Gary allowed the computer screen to project the same light, only surrounded by a slightly illuminated space.

"As you can see, Professor Oak," Misty's voice echoed the tone of Gary's, "That is a black hole."

"And. . ." Professor Oak couldn't help but respond roughly.

"And the pictures were taken in less than a second's difference of each other." Gary responded.

"What's your point?"

"The spot where we observed this was half a light-year away."

"Then don't focus on the black hole." Oak also could've mentioned it was easy as that, but declined.

"There's nothing within the area of the coordinates," Gary sighed, but then took a breath. It was very quick, since Oak was about to mention how he already knew". Immediately continuing his words, Gary noted, "Nor any abnormalities around the entire area."

"The data we've found on the disk, has it ever failed us before?"

Out in another universe was a red-haired scientist glued to her viewscreen. "Exactly," she exclaimed, "I'm the greatest scientist in the universe!". With an "A" and "B" puppet-size version of her on each shoulder, she pretty much chanted the statement.

"Then there's nothing more to study, Professor," Gary let Misty hand him a clipboard as he walked off out of the room. The data on the black hole they were just studying, it would probably have become another lost amount of information. He walked off with it.

Breaking her solemnity, Misty got up from her chair, looking straight into the despaired Professor's eyes.

"Please don't take it personally, Professor."

Oak merely sighed as he turned away for a moment.

"Don't worry, I haven't."

She couldn't accept it. "He's just tired. We're all tired," Misty's cheeriness faded slightly to reveal a worn expression.

Still, throughout her fatigue was the look of sincerity when she said, " But he does love you."

Oak didn't need to reply. It'd honestly been awhile since someone pointed out how Gary actually cared for his Grandpa. Finally reassured, his face lightened.

"We've got work to do," Oak's mouth moved to form a smile.

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PETRAS (Prologue part 3b) "What Oak Never Wanted to

Know"

Disclaimer: I Don't own the anime most of these

characters belong to (I wish I did), and I make no profit

from it (though that would be nice too).

C&C to ilumanae@yahoo.com

The recap's at the bottom of this story

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-----------------------------------------

Spoiler note: For Extreme Evangelion fans, if you

didn't watch the end of Evangelion, or didn't read the

scripts, or just don't wanna know what happened, avoid

this story for awhile. . .

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------------------

"Ugh, how many meters left?" James staggered across the elevator room.

"I'd say at least 1100, James," Meowth looked as the altitude was lowering to almost a kilometer below ground.

"Wow, you don't look too good." Jesse looked down to the blue-haired male.

"Of course I don't!" James eyed an underground river outside the elevator.

The uniformed man across the room was checking the elevator controls. "-200 meters and decreasing" he bellowed across the room, which consisted of only him, Meowth, and the married billionaire couple.

"You've been calling out the number every 10 meters!" James shouted in an ireful state.

"Huh?" Sergeant looked around the room, which was actually quite small; detecting it was the gentlemen in front of him who said it. "Oh, sorry, uh sir, uh Mr. Rochelle." He immediately hollered from rechecking the controls, "-210 meters and decreas. . ."

Three angry elevator passengers halted the officer.

It took 200 more meters before the room settled.

"So tell me, what should we call you anyways?" Jesse asked.

"Corporal General," the officer smiled.

"You're a general?" James was already intrigued, or at least shocked.

"Corporal General" shook his blonde head. "No, General's my last name."

"What's your first?" Meowth replied.

"Sergeant."

If the room were larger, the three other elevator riders would've fallen over. Eying the Corporal, they realized it was no joke.

"So, you're the Corporal of this elevator," James sighed.

"Exactly," Sergeant General smiled as he eyed the elevator controls. "-500 meters and decreasing!" he hollered.

"This cost us millions," Jesse exasperated.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. And Ms. Rochelle," Ash shook both their hands.

"Uh huh!" both the Rochelles nodded to the teenager in slight wonder. Years ago, they were after his pokemon, mainly his pikachu, and there they were. They were the same side, with different titles from their past; one former pokemon master and two former Team Rocket members. Their meeting was discomforting.

"Commander Ketchum, is it?" Jesse feigned a pleasant greeting.

The screening on Washuu's viewscreen was paused a moment as the viewer turned to look at the shadow behind her. "You know, you could just go and talk to Sasami."

Rei's red eyes dimmed as she replied, "Not time."

Some things were what even Washuu couldn't understand, especially Rei. The girl with the short, blue hair merely stared back to the viewscreen. It'd been minutes since Rei noted her purpose, though not specifically.
    
    "I can skip later or so, right?" Washuu's question went unanswered for what seemed minutes in time. "Okay, then.

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"Promise me you will," Oak firmly addressed the teenager. "If you are truly an Oak, take it."

Gary was flickering in emotions. He knew that taking the detonation trigger would mean accepting a fatal promise, for the building and especially Professor Oak, but what could he do? Oak was right when he noted the importance of each piece of information in the lab.

"In any event, if they get their hands on any article in this disk," Oak held up the yellow diskette as he sighed, "Then we'll automatically lose."

It'd been a month since they discontinued the black hole observations; a month since they discovered the black hole was only a small part of the coordinates given in the diskette. They'd already read one-fourth of the many files within the disk.

"But all the pokemon," Gary sifted for an excuse to refuse.

"All the pokemon here are residents in this building by their own will. They already know the dangers of being studied here, but they've consented. You think they'd rather have the invaders use them for information?"

Gary held his palm out, accepting the small device, which held more power in taking out a city. A mere trigger, it would only take a certain push of the code to

activate a building explosion.

"In any case, if there's any signs of Sector 8 failing in defense, it's your trigger."

The mysterious Sectors. There were rumors that even spread to Pallet Town of underground armies of defense.

Gary knew Ash was part of one of them, feeling all the more worried as Oak said the previous statement.

He wasn't sure if his sleeves were catching tears from his eyes. It'd been a long time since Gary had tried venting his worries. "I promise."

The alarms around all Sectors were blaring. Somewhere in Sector 9 were two Commanders preparing themselves for flight.

"This is it," Ash grimly spoke to Commander Richie.

Richie nodded in the same expression, but then changed his tone into a more cheery fashion. "So, when are you gonna propose already?"

Ash placed a hand in his pocket, with the other hand in his hair, "Ah, I've left it off too long. It's *weird* though, I just can't now. Not until it's safe, you know?"

He paused and shook off a super-deformed, image of green aliens and their troops storming through Oak's laboratory.

Richie seemed to sense the fear. "Relax, Ash,you still have to worry of Misty's mallet for holding off the proposal THIS long."

Ash's look upon Richie seemed to ask, "She knew?"Getting a rough nod from his fellow Commander, he grinned, "How bout' after we take out these 'aliens'?"

They smiled, as they ran to their stations, but during the running, there were plenty others surrounding them. Merely running towards his plane, Ash failed to notice what was falling out of his pocket. Keeping his pace, he merely ran off.

With a set of keen eyes, Richie noticed something had fallen from Ash's pocket. Since there were plenty other officers in that hall running to their designated areas, Richie hoped to preserve whatever had fallen from his friend's pocket. Looking down to the floor, he immediately noticed it wasn't yet trampled. He'd give it back to Ash later.

Though Richie seemed to understand what it was as he looked to what he was picking up.

"The ring!"

The alarms were blaring in Pallet Town. It was truly happening. While there were flocks of people heading to their local shelters, the ones in the laboratory building were merely evacuating the materials first.

"You've gotta get outta here!" Gary was ushering a petulant Misty out of the lab.

"Gary!" Misty simply defied him, quickly continuing, "I'll be all right! I've just gotta fax today's coordinates to the sectors."

The surrounding sounds were of blaring alarms.

Gary pleaded, with a look of desperation, "Misty, please, I seriously don't want you to get hurt in all this."

"And I won't. Now, get Professor Oak and the Slowbro out of the lab. I'll be right out with you."

Gary knew he had to give in. "Promise?"

"Of course," Misty looked up from the fax machines, only to turn silent.

With one hand on her cheek, he leaned for a kiss. Quickly shocked redicting it, Misty stepped back and slapped him rigidly. Only a second after, she regretfully noted,

"I promise."

Unlike an expected facefault from Ash, Gary's face turned stoic. He nodded without a wince to the slap or emotional response before leaving.

In a daze she spent a few seconds thinking of what happenedseconds ago. They were the longest seconds ever.

Finally, her attention turned to the alarms.

"I'll be fine!" Oak yelled over the alarms, running with the Slowbro in his arms. He was heading towards the exit of the building.

Gary knew he didn't need to ask if his Grandpa was sure. He merely breathed as he rushed back to the laboratory where Misty was. Somehow, he still worried.

Smacking his forehead, he recalled how Misty would be waiting for him outside anyways. Rushing back another way to another exit, he figured he'd meet Oak soon after. Misty would probably be heading towards the shelter by the lake.

"That's strange," Oak turned to his slowbro.

Only a few feet away from the building exit, the slowbro in Oak's arms seemed to glow. Even with the wrong time for it to occur, Oak was amazed. Slowbro was turning into a Slowking.

Quickly, his attention was averted to a glowing green light right above him.Misty eyed Gary Heading outside. She still was unsure of what to say, but merely ran towards him. It was hard to catch up with him, so she chose to call out to him from the exit she was heading out of.

"Gar. . ."

A fast-moving object appeared to hit the ground between them. Hurled back, Misty found herself back in the building. Luckily, she had no bruises, as she shook off some dust from the rubble around her.

Looking up, she noticed a glowing light.
    
    Gary could've sworn he heard someone, but instead chose to run first, before thinking of it. Right above him were frighteningly large crafts, not of friendly origin. He just barely missed the explosion from the missile aimed at him.

Still running away, he knew he was heading towards the shelter where Misty'd be. Running with some instinct, he chose to go to Misty, but his mind soon caught up with him.

"Oh no," Gary took out the device in his pocket, "I forgot."

Looking up, he suddenly heard the crafts hovering over him. They already caught up with him. Eying his surroundings, he realized there were none. He was out in an open field. Knowing he had no chance out in the open, Gary typed in a code.

He then looked up.

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PETRAS Prologue Part 3c "Liftoff"

Disclaimer: No one likes to get sued, me especially. This story's mine, but most characters belong to their respective anime. Now, onto thestory?

Spoiler: Those who like Evangelion, but didn't yet see the end of it,don't read this if you don't wanna know the ending.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Terra incognita," Richie exasperated, "You want us to leave our homes, everything we've known for 'just some coordinates'?!"

The commander he was addressing paid no attention. Sifting through the rubble of what was a laboratory building, a week ago that is, he murmured a few inaudible words.

Above the commanders, miles in the sky were an aerial battle, which others would've easily spotted. Alien invasions weren't everyday events.

Still, as explosions littered the sky, the two searched through the rubble.

"Run this through me a couple more times," Richie trudged through the rubble, "and I still won't understand."

Nothing. Not a trace of Misty, nor even the professor. If Ash was open to concern of anything else, he would've searched for the disk. For almost a week, he was strolling through the building's remnants. Nothing.

"Ash," Richie was reaching the high point of his temper, "are you listening to. . ."

Angrily tossing the piece of rubble from his hand, Ash stood to face his friend, retorting "Yes!"

That time, Richie chose to say nothing. In the past, he merely listened while Ash talked, yet they somehow switched places. He felt less like the voice of reason for Ash.

Ash rarely spoke in the childish demeanor he once was in, and much less wore his signature red cap; he usually gripped the official's hat instead.

"The last fax from Oak was on the coordinates, Commander."

A week ago, after one of the few successful missions, Richie eyed one of the only remaining faxes. He remembered.

"So tell me, what was on the fax?" Richie's tone lightened slightly.

Handing him the faxed paper, Ash waited for Richie's response.Ash only saw his friend laugh uproariously. "That barely explains anything!"

Ash himself looked to the paper Rich held, making sure it was the right one.

Merely reading "Terra Incognita. Base point for any retreating sectors" with the coordinates below, nothing was specified.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ash sighed, "But we might as well check it out."

That's where Richie's laughter stopped. Neither solemn, nor cheery, Richie looked about gloomily. "Checkin' it out? The trip there'd take months; At least plenty of weeks with even our best ships."

Richie wouldn't let Ash argue. Continuing, his voice rose steadily. "We have barely enough to defend ourselves here. If we leave with some of our ships, what'll the people down here do?"

Ash took his turn to speak after Richie's question. As if in answer, he handed him another faxed paper. "This was the very last fax."

"You were waitin' for this moment, eh?" Richie looked up to Ash.

"Yep," Ash smirked jokingly. "Oak wrote some specifics: fuel, colony ships, all the basic stuff we were storing away. . . "

"For a rainy day," Richie sighed as he clutched the sheet, "We're risking everything, for the slim chance of another place, somewhere out there?"

Pointing out to some random piece of the sky, Richie waited for a reply.

More like a question. In a darker tone, Ash asked, "Do you really think we'll win? We've lost already, what, a three-tenths of our so-called defense force in a few days. Look up around you, Richie." Both Ash and Richie watched the sky for a moment before he continued. "Out there, we're losing. It'll only be a matter of time before we're gone, Richie, and not just to another continent."

"This risk. You really think there's any chance out there?" The question posed from Richie was answered with a firm nod.

That's all Richie needed from his comrade. "Then, what're we waiting for?" He completely ignored the rubble he was in as he ran to his aircraft. Ash followed after him.

Both their crafts created a swift wind that rushed and spread the rubble of the past laboratory. Like flying moltres birds, the fighter crafts glided below the battle, as if they were without care to what was above them.

A yellow disk from deep within the rubble emerged, only to crack from the force of the crafts' wind.

"Back to Sector nine, Rich. Over."

"Roger, Ash. If it's still there, that is."

From the earphones, Richie heard Ash laugh. "Commander?"

Ash stopped laughing, though chuckled as he sighed, "Lookin' to the bright side of things, Commander?"

"Yep."

----------------------------------------------------------

"I can't...I can't understand," Washuu uttered as the viewscreen before her showed mere pieces of the building once in it.

Behind her was a green-haired woman stepping through a portal.Pointing her staff to it, Setsuna waited as it closed, and even after stood in the same position. Though seen as staring at the wall, Setsuna was in her own rush of thoughts.

"Where's Gary?" Washuu wailed as she turned to face Setsuna.Setsuna turned a few degrees in Washuu's direction. Staring straight into her eyes, she stated, "I'm sorry, Washuu. That'll be no longer of your concern."

(Flashback)

Under her red eyes, how could Washuu possibly work? So far, on the viewscreen were scenes of Pokemon trainers setting their Pokemon free? Oddly enough, most Pokemon remained with their trainers, even if not in their Pokeballs.

"Ash's Pikachu is quite a specimen," Washuu became slightly intrigued.

"That is an electric type Pokemon." Rei spoke in a somewhat monotone voice.

"Yes," Washuu rubbed her temples a moment in slight annoyance. "You've said that every time it appeared on the screen."

"Sorry. Just trying to make conversation." Even then, Rei appeared to be speaking from a script somehow.

"Never mind, Rei," Washuu felt her eyelids droop a moment. "We've still got to check out those astronomical charts."

"If you're tired," Rei wasn't able to continue, since she was cut off.

"What, me?" Washuu immediately perked up and turned back to the viewscreen. We still have to work, don't we?"

Rei could've been speechless for a very long time, but chose to sigh "Yes."

(And Back to their Present)

"It's impossible. I gave you the time coordinates," Washuu spoke, then paused in recollection. Her eyelids were heavy when she was checking the astronomical charts. In utter horror, Washuu turned to Setsuna, gasping, "But I just closed my eyes a moment!"

"And how many possibilities, predictions for that day passed by your closed eyes, Washuu? Anything could've happened."

"Gary. He's. . . ?"

"I cannot say." Setsuna opened another portal, her backturned to Washuu, and exited the laboratory.

----------------------------------------------------------

"This place is unbearable!" Asuka complained as she sat on the beach next to Shinji, "No air conditioning, this rotten darkness, and. . . you."

Shinji took the remark sourly. "I never wanted to be stuck here with you either, Asuka." He stood up to walk away from her. "It's been a whole darn week with you whining."

Asuka looked up to the teenager to retort the remark, but was cut off as he continued.

"Believe me, I'd rather take on a thousand more angels than listen one more minute of you wishing to be elsewhere," he shouted as he walked away.

Asuka sat there in silence a moment, then stood up. "Wait, where are you going?" Seeing that there was no response, she ran to catch up to him. Muttering, "Idiot Shinji," she sighed, "Now I've gotta run after him."

Hearing her footsteps in the sand, Shinji quickened his pace, pretty much walking around the whole island to avoid her. Finally stopping to breathe, Shinji watched as Asuka stopped beside him. "What is it?"Somehow, Asuka was struggling to reply, but found an excuse. In her usual commanding tone, she replied, "Duh, I'm makin' sure you don't get lost."

Looking at the island they were on, Shinji could only sigh, seeing it was barely the size of a soccer stadium. "Not much to lose."

Not catching the meaning of his answer, Asuka shrugged, "Whatever. So what do you want for breakfast?"

"It's morning?"

Asuka shrugged again, "Dunno, I'm just hungry."

"Fine," Shinji looked down to the sand, then looked up to the dark sky, "Then I'll have some coconuts and fish." They were two of the few available foods on the island.

"Great," Asuka walked off, "Then go get em'." Shinji was speechless, but annoyed nevertheless.

An hour later, Asuka was sitting by the beach, gathering some sand for her hut. In a week, Shinji and Asuka realized they needed some shelter, even with no hint of foul weather. On separate sides of the island, Asuka and Shinji's houses were intentionally placed far apart. FAR apart.

Remembering one of the previous conversations on the island, Asuka shuddered. She told him of her talks with the ghostly voice of Rei, seeing only him in front of her, and all the rest of the weird experience. Whether it was a dream or something that actually happened, it shook her up, and seemed to worry Shinji much more. He was always weaker than her.

Still, the voice Asuka recalled mentioned Shinji as a complex person. "Complex," Asuka thought as she gathered more sand, "that and extremely dull."

On the other side of the island, Shinji was still gathering their "breakfast". It wasn't fun fishing, since the only suitable bait around were the bits of stale coconuts. The fishing line itself was weaved from some palm leaves, making it harder to pull any fish in.

He could've sworn he saw a green light coming from behind him, but sighed as he felt the fishing line become taut. Not only taut, Shinji felt the line pulling him towards the sea, as he realized the fish behind it must've been big.

The "fish" leaped out of the water, being as big as a whale. It might've been one, judging from the size of it. "Whaaa?" Shinji somehow felt a rush of fear within him. Unlike other times, he didn't feel like fighting a creature that big.

Running from the beach, Shinji could've sworn he ran past another person, but had little time to think of it. Tripping over a rock in the island's forest area, Shinji fell over, only to feel a couple scrapes on him.

"Ahhh!" Shinji cried out as he fell over from the cuts. If he was more enduring, he might've seen the red-haired woman coming towards him.

"Are you all right?" the red-haired woman checked his scrapes.

He wasn't crying before, but felt himself become quiet as he answered, "Yes."

Seeing it was an obvious lie, the woman took some bandages from her medical apron, "Still, those cuts look pretty serious." She applied the bandages, of course.

Back on the other side of the island, Asuka began to wonder where "idiot Shinji" went. He was already late with their "breakfast". Strolling through the forest patch of the island towards Shinji's side, Asuka found herself forgetting about her "breakfast" as she spotted a man in a tuxedo.Looking unconscious, the man with a mask on him laid there like a beggar on a bench.

Gathering a rock in case, Asuka stepped cautiously towards the man, calling, "Excuse me!"

The man appeared to wake from what must've been him sleeping. "Huh? Who. . .who're you?"

Asuka gripped her rock less firmly, as she saw the man stand. Looking like Shinji, in the much older sense, Asuka could only wait for him to get up. Still, unlike Shinji, she noticed the man looked like some sort of prince, even in his mask. While he looked slightly better looking, Asuka knew he'd be bigger than Shinji. "That's for me to know. Who're you?"

The tuxedo man seemed confused himself uttering "Mamoru" dazedly. Taking off his mask, the dark-haired man felt more confident as he replied, "Mamoru."

Asuka sighed as she approached him less cautiously. "Ok, Mamoru, I'm Asuka."

"Nice to meet you," Mamoru shook hands with her, though somehow felt a flood of images as he noticed her red hair. "What is it?" Asuka seemed bewildered by the man. Catching himself, Mamoru sighed, "Nothing. Just. The color red. . ."

Asuka lifted a brow to the queer statement, but they still walked through the forest. Shinji and the older woman walked through the forest of course, eventually meeting up with "Mamoru" and Asuka. The first thing Asuka spotted was the woman walking alongside Shinji. Stopping, she felt herself grow irate each second.

Mamoru stopped himself, noticing the change in Asuka. "Asuka?" He wasn't quite sure what was wrong.

Shinji himself noticed the man walking alongside Asuka. He felt slightly curious to who was walking with Asuka.

"Asuka, meet..."

Asuka trudged towards him, in a speculative manner. "Where's the breakfast?"

The woman beside Shinji was carrying some fish wrapped in palm leaves. "These, you mean?"

"Yes. Thank you. . ." Asuka stood there a moment in silence until she perked up, whispering to Shinji. "Um. . . What's her name?"

Shinji himself didn't know. "I. I dunno."
    
    Back into his ear, Asuka shouted, "You don't even *KNOW* her name?!"

The energetic behavior behind Asuka made Mamoru remember someone else, but he wasn't quite sure who. He knew he forgot something, but what?

"Nurse. . ." the older woman was struggling to remember. "Nurse Joy, but just call me Joy."

"Joy," Asuka sighed.

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A thousand or so people and Pokemon boarded each craft. Within the confines of Sector 9, plenty were struggling to get into the crafts quickly.

"We've got thirty-four out of the system so far. Over," Ash radioed Richie.

"How many more? Over." Ash heard Richie over from the earphones of his spacecraft.

"Just ours, Richie, over," Ash replied through his radio.

"Roger. Seeya later, then."

From his spacecraft, Ash asked, "Richie, ya' comin?" There was no response for what seemed a minute. Ash finally heard Richie's voice reply, "Sure. Once we get rid of these aliens, of course."

"What?" Ash glowered over his radio, but gasped in surprise as the answer dawned on him. "You're staying here?" Ash failed to hear the launch of his spacecraft.

Ash knew the answer was yes, but didn't hear it from Richie. "Wait! Just what the heck are you doin?!. . ."

Already, the liftoff was in progression. Ash was going and Richie was staying.

Looking above from his aircraft, Richie felt like saluting the ascending spacecraft. "Seeya later, Ash."

Minutes after, a pang of thought hit him, or it was more like a ring from an upper compartment of his aircraft. Wincingat the slight pain and rubbing his head, he looked tothe forgotten engagement ring. He still hadn't returned it to Ash.

"Darn," he muttered.

-----------------------------------------

RECAP: (But if u read the parts before this, why

bother?)
    
    1. Pokemon: So far, Jesse was introduced as a second SailorMars, much to Raye (SailorMars in SailorMoon) and Jesse's own distaste. Brock, dressed in a tuxedo with a rose in hand, was just sensing danger and was off on another crusade. A male in another tuxedo appeared to Brock with a yellow rodent on his shoulder.

Evangelion. Shinji Ikari, a dispirited young adult, was sharing an island with the girl who constantly nagged him in his past life. Asuka was rambling of "seeing only Shinji" while on the island with him. Though thinking they were the only survivors of the third impact (where every human on earth was turned to liquid), a classmate was having troubles of his own. Only a few months ago, Touji appeared on what seemed to be another world (the world of Ranma1/2) to greet a green-haired lady and a clumsy, blonde girl. With no recollection of the world he came from, he somehow ended up falling for Serena. Just recently falling in love with the girl (Serena A.K.A. SailorMoon), Touji kept noticing something was wrong with her. By visiting his adopted parents' friend, Dr. Tofu, Touji began recalling visions of Evas, and possibly the past he had forgotten. With the addition of a past classmate, Kensuke, Touji himself was recovering his past. 

3. Tenchi Masaki (a boy who found out he was a prince from the world of Jurai) had dealt with unusual proceedings in his home. Dealing with the space pirate (Ryoko) and a relative who happened to be a princess from Jurai (Ayeka) was tough enough.Unfortunately, Tenchi found exactly what Washuu discovered (Shinji and Asuka on one of Washuu's homemade worlds.) and met a green-haired woman (Setsuna from SailorMoon). Another experiment or creation of Washuu's went wrong (Just like usual).

4. Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo had their own weird lives in Nerima before meeting a green-haired lady (Setsuna). Ranma was a guy who turned to a girl when splashed with cold water, who'd usually go into harsh situations to turn back (with hot water) to a guy. Akane was the martial arts school owner's daughter who was set up to marry Ranma. Combining their weird fiancées parents, enemies, and whatever came their way, their lives became a great mess until they were finally married. Only five years after their marriage, they both realized Ranma wouldn't be able to give Akane a child. Once Setsuna came to them in their fifteenth year of marriage, they were more than willing to accept a child and whatever would happen next.

A year after Serena's arrival, Touji came (read part2) and somehow fell for Serena (literally and figuratively). Both Serena and Touji knew nothing of their past in their own worlds (from the aid of a certain green-haired lady), yet began recalling it by visiting Dr. Tofu. From seeing inkblots, Serena lost more control of her mind than Touji; letting herself recall her past as SailorMoon and the guy she once loved (Mamoru A.K.A. Tuxedo Mask). Oblivious to Serena's past, Touji merely let himself and Serena fall further from each other.

5. SailorMoon (known as Serena in SailorMoon) wasn't the only character with bad recollections. When Setsuna sent Serena from her world to Ranma's, Jesse was sent in her place as SailorMars2. Handling everything as well as they could, the other sailor scouts merely let Jesse be a Sailor Scout, except SailorMars (Raye). Setsuna (SailorPluto A.K.A. the green-haired lady A.K.A. the protector of time) went over to greet Washuu on a "little" disturbance in time.

--

Oh, yeah, umm, if there were some unaswered C&C's to my old email, sorry.

Yep. Unbelievably, I've had the worst luck with computers this year.

Recovering with a better computer and a week of free-writing time,

I finally rewritten part 3. While I've already

written like two other parts, I've really gotta revise.


End file.
